Mark Thomas, Poetry, was recently successful in his Violin audition for the National Youth Orchestra (NYO) of Ireland. He is currently attending a course in Kilkenny College, where he is rehearsing for 9 hours a day before taking part in a Gala Concert at the National Concert Hall on 4th January under the baton of Gearoid Grant. This will be followed by a Summer Course next July with world renowned conductor, En Shao.
Last year Mark also auditioned for and was appointed Leader of the Dublin Youth Symphony Orchestra (DYO). Mark has been a member of DYO since the age of 8 and has been leader of the Junior and Concert orchestras. He has travelled to Florida, Italy, Scotland and Manchester during this time. The orchestra has been rehearsing for three hours monthly since September and they will showcase their work at a sold-out concert at the National Concert Hall on 11th January. The programme consists of Smetna’s “Vltava”, Mussorgsky’s “A Night on a Bare Mountain” and Saint-Saëns’ “Danse Macabre”, in which Mark will play the violin solo portraying the Devil calling the dead to perform the dance of death.
The musical family Thomas
Mark follows closely in the steps of his older brother Richard who was leader of DYO and co-leader of the NYO last year and is now a full time Violin student at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, where he is doing a BA in Music Performance.
Both Mark and Richard also follow in the steps of their father Philip who, while a student here in a previous century (!), was also a member of both DYO and NYO. Philip (OC ’86) is still involved with DYO as conductor of the Intermediate orchestra.
Ms Theresa Thomas
